A Single Man - Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Dec 10, 2009, 14:11 GMT

Follows the story of an English professor who tries to cope after the sudden death of his partner . ...more

Colin Firth’s sensitive portrayal of a lonely English professor mourning the death of his lover is as intense as any film role this year.  He’s in nearly every frame, often in tight close-up, and sometimes he’s buck naked.  The film moves slowly and lingers on him as though he’s a work of art, which he is, in acting terms. 

There’s nothing this Firth fellow can’t do – from hilariously fist fighting with Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones to changing his father’s dirty underwear in profound sadness in When Did You Last See Your Father?  He is gifted and natural.  It’s not surprising that he holds our gaze so easily and powerfully in every moment of A Single Man. 

He hears the news of his lover’s death and is told he is not welcome at the funeral.  He goes through the motions of his day, gingerly handling a gun, then removing the bullets in a gesture that tells us he doesn’t trust himself to live through the pain.  He meets a couple of friends and a sexy stranger.  And a student picks this horrific day to pepper the professor with question about Life.

Clothing designer Tom Ford directs the film very well considering it’s a new medium and his first time out.  He tells the story through highly evocative imagery, and gives the film space in which we can feel our feelings.  My only complaint, and it’s a small one, is that too long dream sequences and too lingering views of walls tend to detract from the momentum.  Ford has shown an uncanny ability to tell stories – who knew?

Nicholas Hoult’s grown up since we last saw him tagging along behind Hugh Grant in About a Boy.  He’s the university student with a crush on Firth’s professor.  The gaping age difference between them is played down by placing the onus of the chase   on the boy.  He is the aggressive lover, the stalking, predatory animal chasing down his quarry.  If it had been the other way around, the story would have posed a difficult marketing problem.

I heard Julianne Moore was in the film but I must have sneezed.  She appears as the professor’s lover from an eternity ago, but barely registers because her role is so abbreviated.  But her character adds dimension, the Will and Grace angle, that she is lost and drunk because she still loves him.  Don’t be fooled by the prominence of her face on the billboards, she’s a ghost. 

The dead lover is played by Matthew Goode, who is an actual ghost appearing in the professor’s nightmares showing over and over the moment of his death in a car crash. He’s yet another handsome character in this oh so lovely looking film.

Strangely, A Single Man is a period piece set in LA in the 60’s, but for my money, Ford has ramped it down, allowing his story to unfold anywhere anytime.  It could have been a not-so-subtle explosion of 60’s kitsch but thankfully Ford did not choose that route, with the exception of Moore’s pink bedroom.  Hey, if you can’t have a lot of lines, a nice place helps.

A Single Man
35mm drama
Written by Tom Ford and David Scearce, based on Christopher Isherwood’s novel
Directed by Tom Ford
Opens: Dec 11
MPAA:
Runtime:
Country: US
Language: English